Each tree on the University campus has its own story, Whitey Lueck explained on his fourth annual Campus Tree Walk Sunday afternoon.
“I could talk about these things or an individual tree for a week,” Lueck said.
As an adjunct professor at the University, Lueck teaches “Trees Across Oregon,” a landscape architecture class offered spring term that welcomes non-majors and community members.
Lueck said the campus was originally a grassland because the area’s former inhabitants, the Kalapuyans, torched the valley every year. Therefore, all the trees on campus post-date the founding of the University in 1876.
The giant sequoia by McKenzie Hall, one of the widest trees in Eugene, was planted by a University graduating class around 1890, Lueck said. Other campus trees, such as the sugar maples between Huestis Hall and Deschutes Hall, were planted as recently as 12 to 15 years ago.
Many of the trees on campus are not native to the Eugene area. Lueck said Eugene can support a greater variety of trees than many places because its climate is moderate enough to accommodate trees from both colder and warmer areas. This led to campus becoming a “de-facto arboretum,” he said.
However, planting non-native trees displaces local trees, Lueck said.
For future tree selections on campus, Lueck said a stronger emphasis on native species would “really turn the campus into a classroom rather than a collection that doesn’t make a lot of sense other than being a collection.”
About 40 students and community members participated in the Outdoor Program-sponsored walk, which Outdoor Program Assistant Director Suzanne Hanlon said has become bigger and more popular every year.
Senior Carin Berg said her favorite tree to learn about was the Eastern black walnut, located next to Gerlinger Hall and currently surrounded by its fallen seed pods, nuts encased in green fruits.
“I’ve noticed it before, but I didn’t really notice the history,” Berg said. “(The tour) definitely opened my eyes to how diverse the trees are on campus. I enjoyed the history lesson.”
Lueck said the tree was brought to Eugene for its flavorful nuts, which are commonly eaten by squirrels now but can be used to flavor ice cream.
Many cities, including Eugene, have outlawed planting Eastern black walnut trees because they fear getting sued by people who are injured by the tree’s falling nuts, Lueck added.
“They see it as an aerial harassment this time of year,” Lueck said.
Another tree that drops seed pods that can create messes is the American Sweetgum in the parking lot by the EMU.
Lueck said botanists are working to engineer a version of the tree that does not drop little spiky balls.
“This is a tidy society we live in,” Lueck said. “This tree’s just trying to reproduce. Live with it.”
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